Opinion: Canada’s current travel bans are a discriminatory mistake By Davis Moscrop Continuing columnist Yesterday at 3:96 pm, EST @aqg ‘Concern about the arrival ofthe omicron variant has ushered in another round ofcovid-19 control measures around the world at national borders and beyond, including testing, quarantines, travel restrictions and bans. Canada has introduced measures including arrival testing for travelers — excluding ‘those coming from the United States — and an outright ban on foreign national who have visited one ot more of 20 countries in Afric, including Sout Afri, Faypt and Nigeria, Tat poliey san ineffective, discriminatory mistake Tmnits release outlining the measures, the Canadian government notes: “Moving forward, horde testing surveillance wil be adjusted based on the atest vailable evidence to further reduce the risk of importation ofthis variant.”"The underiying message is that these are extraordinary but necessary limits Ariven by evidence and subject to amendment as new information comes to light. The world i stil learning about the mutated strai, but it is causing concern given just how many mutations it carries, Whatever we lea about omicron, however, we already know that travel bans are more politi] theater {han sound, evidence-based practice. And such performanee acts come ata pice that wil be paid inequitably by those who can aford to bear the cost the least — the same folks who tend to bese such consequences most often, whether we're talking travel bans, protective equipment supply or vaccine access Tn the Globe and Mail frien bureau chief Geoffrey York writes that travel bans in southern Aftica “have had a disastrous effect on already battered economies." He quotes South African infections disease specialist Mare Mendelson, who calls the bans “a grand exhibition of fuility and discrimination." “There may be no better way to put it. In the Hill Times, Erica Ill takes Canada’s travel measures to their implicit, or explicit, end, calling them “swift and anti-Black." “By imposing a travel ban on African countries that will o litle to stop the spread ofthe variant, it ft out the rich countries (ead: white) that bhave als detected the variant,” fil writes, She points out that several other countries with omicron eases eluded the ban, including Belgium, Germany, Israel and Britain. Oh, and the United States, Not only do travel bans tend tobe dsproportionately focused on poorer and majority-Black countries ~ the same states that tend tobe discriminated against in a system of vaccine apartheid, as Il points out — but the measures undermine the very global cooperation nevessary'to battle the pandemic and bring ittoan end, or at least under long-term eontrol. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said travel bans have affected information sharing on the emerging variant, including the shipment of samples required to study omicron. The organization notes also that the variant is now in 2g countries. ‘WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has als said, citing the US. ban on travelers from South Aftic, that such undertakings risk foture variant detection efforts because x ban “disincentives countries from alerting others to threats tht wll inevitably land on their shores.” Indeed. And ‘Canada is part ofthe problem. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has never missed a chance to drive home the claim that his government bases its public poley on evidence, Evidence-based X, Vand Z have become familar refrains, even as evidence suggests that certain policies miggutded, ineffective or worse, Travel bans, especially inequitable ‘ones, ate morally wrong and not supported by evidence. Ifthe Trudeau government values evidence-based polieymaking over poltis-based evidence ‘making it should reflect that i its actions CCanada should revoke its travel bans currenty in place and commit to not pursuing future bans unless the country ean be certain that such measures are not only effective and timely, but also that they leave no doubt tht the return fom their undertaking overwizelmingly outweighs the costs both forthe country itself and other countries afected by it. ‘Throughout the pandemic, we have heard politicians tell us that we are alin this togother. Their ations seldom: fulfil the promise oftheir words. Once c this isthe cas, but i's also an opportunity to do better. The Trudeau government should take it, end the travel bans and set an example for its peer states inthe process